Automobile rear door latch



Sept. 30, 1952 J. D. STUTT AUTOMOBILE REAR DOOR LATCH Filed Dec. 19, 1949 2 SHEETS-SHEET l Inventor James D. Stuff Sept. 30,

Filed Dec.

J. D. sTUTT 2,612,397

AUTOMOBILE REAR DOOR LATCH 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 34 2,7 2,6 [gx 3 37 v L k .1 n 4 i '\.F

+ 32 3/ 30 28 29 Inventar A S \I \K f y James D. Siu/l gif/W Patented Sept. 30, 1952 .AnfroMoBrLnREAn nomineren James D. Statt; Paradise, 'IJ-ex. M :Application December 19, 1949.*Serial;No.13374='1v y I imams. (c1. cs2-+166) The present'inventionrelates :to new and useful improvements for automobile door locksfand more particularlyto. alockiforithe rearrioors of theautomobile.

' .Animportant.object offthe inventionisztoprovide locking means for the rear doors of an automobile and including the provision of a sliding bolt for each rear' Adoor connected through a handle or4 pull knob on the instrument panel of the automobile whereby the driver of the automobile may unlock the rear doors, when desired.

A further object of the invention is to provide a sliding bolt for locking the rear doors of the automobile which automatically locks the doors when the doors are moved into a closed position and safe from accidental opening movement by the occupant 4of the rear seat of the automobile .and which may be unlocked only from the front seat of the vehicle.

A still further object is to provide a device of this character of simple and practicalconstruction, which is efiicient and reliable in operation, relatively inexpensive to manufa-cture and install in -operative position and which otherwise is well adapted for the purposes for which the same is l intended.

Other objects and advantages reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure l is a perspective view with parts broken away and shown in section and showing the cable connecting the lock to the pull knob or handle,

Figure 2 is a top plan view,

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken substantially on the line 3-3 of Figure 2,

Figure 4 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of one of the sliding bolts for the rear door,

Figure 5 is a sectional View taken on a line Ii--5 of Figure 4, and

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken on 'a line 6-6 of Figure 3.

Referring now to the drawings in detail wherein for the purpose of illustration I have disclosed a preferred embodiment of the invention, the numeral 5 designates a tubular body or casing having an attaching iiange 6 at one end for attaching to the rear of the instrument panel 1 of an automobile by means of screws or the like 8. A plunger 9 is slidably mounted in body 6 with a knob I0 at its outer end and lpositioned in front of the instr" ent-panel,andchavirig,eJ plunger head "I I secured to the.nner,,-erid.,lo'f;tlf plunger by meansofa screw I2 andLpositioned at the frontendof bodyl. A.pairofwiresior cables` |3and I4 1arte.. attached .at .,o'rlelP end.A @1X1 plunger head l I and are slidably carried in flex? ible -cable housings I5 and I6 which are secured at o-ne end to a bracket |1 by means of clamps I8. The bracket is secured tothe under side of tubular body 5 by screws or the like I9 to position the adjacent ends of housings I5 and I6 in spaced relation forwardly of plunger head II.

Cables I3 and |4 and cable housings I5 and I6 extend rearwardly under the floor 20 of the automobile to a position adjacent the rear edges of the respective rear dooirs 2| and 22. Each cable I3 and I4 is attached at its rear` end to a door locking bolt designated generally at 23. each bolt, and its actuating mechanism, being of duplicate construction and accordingly a detailed explanation of one will suiiice for both.

The bolt is slidable in a tubular casing 24 secured in the door frame 25 and each bolt includes a rear tubular section 26 and a front solid section 21 having its rear or inner end slidably positioned in rear section 26.

The inner end of front section 21 formed with a longitudinal slot 28 and rear section 28 is provided with a transverse pin 29 positioned in the slot to connect the section 21 for independent sliding movement to section 26 of the bolt. A coil spring 30 is held on section 21 of the bolt with one end abutting the front end of section 26 and its other end abutting` a head 3| on the section 21.

The other end of head 3| is beveled as shown v at 32 for riding against the inclined' keeper platey 33 to enter a thimble 34 secured in one of the doors.

A substantially bell crank lever 35 is pivoted to a bracket 36 on door frame 25 adjacent bolt 23 and with one end of the lever connected to rear end of bolt 23 by a link 31 and the other end of the lever connected to one of the cables I3 or I4.

In the operation of the device the door` is automatically locked when swinging into a closed position by head 3| of the bolt entering the thimble 34. The front end 21 and head 3| of the bolt is free to slide in the rear end 26 of the bolt during the door closing movement independently of the movement of .rear end 26 of the bolt. v

When it is desired to unlock the door kno I0 is pulled outwardly from dash 1 and cables l y 3 I3 and I4 connected to bell crank levers 35 for the respective doors will retract the bolt, pin

29 connecting the front and rear sections 26 andv21 of the bolt for uniform retracting move- L It is to be understood, however, that even though there is herein shown and describeda preferred embodiment of the invention the same is susceptible to certain changes fully compremanually operative latch bolt retracting member adapted to be slidably mounted in the frame for retraction, and means for moving said latch bolt out of locking engagement by manual retraction of said retracting member comprising a. bell crank having a pivotal mounting on said frame, a motion transmitting link connected at y one end to one end of said bell crank and at its other end tothe rear end of said latch bolt and compensating for pivoting of :said bell crank relative to said latch bolt, anda flexible pull fxnember having one endconnected to the other end of said bell crank and its other end convfnect'ed to fthe' bolt retracting member.

hended by the spirit of the invention'as hereinf u described and the scope of theY appended claim.` Y

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

A .door latch for latching the rear door of 20 an,l automobile to the automobile frame compri'singjan horizontal latch bolt adapted to be mounted in jsaid frame forv movement vkinto and out vopi? locking engagement with said rear door,

JAMES D. STUTT.

, REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name f vDate l 555,350 Wassmann Feb. 25, 1896 1,134,175 Wheary Apr. 6, 1915 said latch bolt having front and rear ends, a 2.5 1,873,653- Lyles et al Aug. 23, 1932 

